Open data downloads
Halifax Building Permits Dataset
Download the full normalized set of building permit records published by Halifax Housing Pulse for your own analysis. Files include every retrieved record with a usable permit issuance date and Housing Pulse municipal district assignments where mapped coordinates are available.
View metadata JSONAbout this dataset
These records represent building permits with a usable issuance date published by Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax Housing Pulse retrieves the public records, normalizes fields used across the site, assigns current municipal districts from published coordinates and prepares the files for analysis.
Permit records describe observed permit activity. They do not measure construction starts, completed homes, occupancy or affordability.
What is included
Each row is one normalized permit record with its source object identifier and permit number when available, issuance date, project type, status, community, address, estimated value, recorded net-new units, coordinates and Housing Pulse district assignment.
Blank CSV cells and empty Excel cells represent missing values. Dates use ISO 8601 calendar format.
Schema version 1
Data dictionary
| Field | Description | Type | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
source_object_id | Object identifier assigned to the record in the HRM ArcGIS layer. | integer | HRM source | Identifies the source-layer row; no cross-publication stability claim is made. |
permit_id | Housing Pulse row identifier selected from the source object ID, permit number, or a deterministic fallback. | string | Housing Pulse normalized | Used internally by Housing Pulse for record-level display and staging. |
permit_number | Permit number recorded by HRM, when available. | string | HRM source | Blank when the source does not provide a value. |
issued_date | Permit issuance date used to group activity on Housing Pulse. | date | Housing Pulse normalized | ISO 8601 calendar date in CSV; native date cell in Excel. |
month | Calendar month derived from the permit issuance date. | string | Housing Pulse derived | Formatted as YYYY-MM. |
permit_type | Normalized project or work type used by Housing Pulse. | string | Housing Pulse normalized | Currently sourced from the first available known work-type field. |
permit_status | Permit status recorded by HRM. | string | Housing Pulse normalized | Unfamiliar or missing source values are preserved as Unknown. |
community | Community or locality associated with the permit. | string | Housing Pulse normalized | Whitespace is normalized; missing values are represented as Unknown. |
address | Normalized permit location assembled from available source address fields. | string | Housing Pulse normalized | May be Address unavailable when no usable location is published. |
value | Estimated project or construction value recorded by HRM, when available. | number | Housing Pulse normalized | Blank when the source value is missing or cannot be parsed. |
units | Net-new residential units used by Housing Pulse permit summaries. | integer | Housing Pulse normalized | Missing, non-numeric, or negative source values are represented as 0 to match dashboard calculations. |
lat | Published permit latitude in WGS 84 decimal degrees, when available. | number | HRM source | Requested from ArcGIS in EPSG:4326; blank when geometry is unavailable. |
lon | Published permit longitude in WGS 84 decimal degrees, when available. | number | HRM source | Requested from ArcGIS in EPSG:4326; blank when geometry is unavailable. |
district_id | Current HRM municipal district number assigned from the permit coordinates. | integer | Housing Pulse derived | Blank when coordinates are unavailable or do not match a district boundary. |
district_name | Current HRM municipal district name associated with the derived district number. | string | Housing Pulse derived | Derived using the district-boundary method documented by Housing Pulse. |
Source and methodology
Underlying public records: Halifax Regional Municipality Building Permits, published by Halifax Regional Municipality. Preparation, normalization, geographic enrichment, documentation and publication: Halifax Housing Pulse.
Source records were retrieved Sep 28, 2026, 1:45 p.m.; the source reports an update at Sep 28, 2026, 6:15 a.m..
Read the Housing Pulse methodology for reporting windows, unit handling, district assignment and interpretive limits.